Ultrafast Lasers in Spectroscopy—Moving into the Mainstream

This article was written for Spectroscopy Magazine, Volume 33, Issue 4, pg 20–25.

A decade ago few people would have had the fortitude to suggest that high-powered ultrafast lasers were “turnkey.” Now they are moving toward widespread use in spectroscopy and in industrial settings. This is a brief look at what has changed in the past decade, what is driving the change, and some of the emerging applications that are enabled by the increasing stability and robustness of ultrafast laser sources.